Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has inaugurated the new transit terminal building of Vijayawada airport at Gannavaram urged the government to name it as NTR Amaravati airport. “We will formally write to the centre on this and you do the needful,” Naidu requested Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju and secretary R N Choubey.
The CM also wanted the civil aviation ministry to change the location of the proposed greenfield airport in SPS Nellore district from Dagadarthi to Krishnapatnam. “Krishnapatnam has a port. There is Sri City SEZ, Tirupati airport and Chennai. This belt has huge potential for development and the NITI Aayog studied the prospect of developing a coastal employment zone here. Hence the new airport should be built at Krishnapatnam,” he added.
Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Bandaru Dattatreya, Y Satyanarayana Chowdary, AP Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman G P Mahapatra and others attended the event.
Choubey said the transit terminal at Vijayawada airport was developed at a cost of INR 162 crore, while another INR 30 crore was spent on allied facilities. The terminal could handle 20 lakh passengers annually and would be sufficient for passenger needs for the next four-five years.
“By then we will build a state-of-the-art permanent terminal building that will cater to 50 lakh passengers annually. Once the runway expansion is completed, larger aircraft like Boeing 747 can land here,” said Choubey.
The CM and the union ministers the foundation stone for the runway expansion works being taken up at a cost of INR 150 crore.
The state government has acquired 750 acres of land, which the CM said was worth INR 2250 crore, for the runway expansion and airport development.
(PTI)